An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating with little or no user input. An autonomous vehicle senses its environment using sensing devices such as radar, lidar, image sensors, and the like. The autonomous vehicle system further uses information from global positioning systems (GPS) technology, navigation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, and/or drive-by-wire systems to navigate the vehicle.
Vehicle automation has been categorized into numerical levels ranging from Zero, corresponding to no automation with full human control, to Five, corresponding to full automation with no human control. Various automated driver-assistance systems, such as cruise control, adaptive cruise control, and parking assistance systems correspond to lower automation levels, while true “driverless” vehicles correspond to higher automation levels.
With traditional manually-controlled vehicles, the vehicle operator is capable of perceiving upcoming road conditions and proactively adjusting the vehicle speed or acceleration to account for the anticipated changes resulting from the upcoming road conditions. Additionally, when the vehicle operator is unable to perceive upcoming road conditions, for example, at the crest of a hill, the vehicle operator can also adjust vehicle speed or acceleration to account for potentially unknown road conditions. However, automated vehicles operating in a fully autonomous mode may lack the ability to proactively account for upcoming road conditions, which may impair ride quality and degrade some aspects of the autonomous control.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that allow automated vehicles to account for upcoming road conditions in a manner that improves control and ride quality. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.